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"Writers must recognize the stop signs in their…"
I recently read a blog by a writer on our site that was looking for help with their story... which caused me to take note of this in today's paper.
I found this article on the importance of knowing WHEN to end your story; the importance of knowing when to say 'when'. The first half of this article is insightful. Towards the end of this article famous authors opening words are compared to their ending words; both are equally important.
"I think every person who wants to tell a tale feels a strong compulsion to include every detail. And when the story is over, when everything that needed to be said has been said and it’s time to wrap everything up, the temptation is to just stop telling the story."
"Many people know that the opening line from “Moby-Dick” is “Call me Ishmael.” Fewer people know that the closing lines are these: ..."
The article gave me key things to consider. Give it a read.
Comments
Having a Small Following
And some of us just trudge on... I'd have stopped a long time ago, but there are several here who are very encouraging, so I don't just give up. My stories only get a small percentage of the applause that many of the writers get, and sometimes that hurts me a lot.
Still, what I write comes from my heart, and I can't tell you where some stories come from.
Encouragement is nice. If
Encouragement is nice. If there's a better way to focus I'm all for it. On one occasion I was 3/4 through a story, came up with the ending, and 'backed' into finishing the piece. I have scribbled notes from being inspired while driving... cryptic but useful. What ever works, right?
Donna
Knowing the ending
I prefer to know how the story end before I start writing. The next step is figuring out the beginning. After that it's a matter of mapping the route in between.
Knowing where the story is going isn't necessarily going to guarantee it's easy to write. Sometimes you can't get there from here and have to go someplace else first. Sometimes you write yourself into a corner and there's no place to go that will advance the story. Then comes the painful process of back tracking the storyline to a point that will, when taken a different direction, allow the story to reach the end and avoid that trap. The really tough part is just deciding to bin the work that doesn't fit. :o(
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt